The use of projection methods to represent three dimensional and higher dimensional data sets as a two dimensional image representation is necessary for display of image data from multiple modalities, including, for example, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, and optical coherence tomography (OCT). The use of the average intensity projection (AIP), in which the average value along a ray cast through a data set is used to represent one pixel of the two dimensional plane, and the maximum intensity projection (MIP), in which the maximum value along a ray cast through a data set is used to represent one pixel of the two dimensional plane, are well known and well documented. For example, AIP and MIP are discussed in, for example, Method and apparatus for volumetric projection rendering using reverse ray casting to Cline et al. (USPTO, ed. (General Electric Company, USA, 1993), p. 9), Three-dimensional ultrasound imaging of velocity and power data using average or median pixel projections to Hatfield et al. (USPTO, ed. (General Electric Company, USA, 2000), p. 17) and Projection methods for producing two-dimensional images from three-dimensional data to Souza et al. (USPTO, ed. (General Electric Company, USA, 1993), p. 11). FIGS. 1A through 1C illustrate results obtained using standard projection methods, AIP; MIP; standard deviation projection, respectively.